Huddersfield Town Reserves fell to a 3-0 defeat at home to Coventry City on a chilly January afternoon, but the good news was that Andy Booth played a full half on his return from a back injury. Trailing by a single goal at the interval, the second-string pushed hard for an equaliser before a second from the Sky Blues effectively killed off the fixture.

John Dungworth's side started the game in a 4-3-3 formation, with England under-18 goalkeeper Alex Smithies behind a back four of (from left to right) Tom Jackson, Shane Killock, Tom Clarke and skipper Aaron Hardy. Mitchell Bailey, James Berrett and Matthew Young formed the central midfield trio with Danny Racchi and trialist Leon Quarless playing either side of central striker Andy Booth up front.

Captain Hardy won the toss and chose to kick towards the Panasonic end in the first-half, meaning that Coventry 'keeper Ireland had the strong sun in his eyes. Several notable faces were among the small crowd as the game commenced; respective first-team managers Andy Ritchie and Iain Dowie were sat side-by-side, with Lincoln City boss Peter Jackson nearby.

They watched on as City defender Callum Burgess had the first effort on goal after three minutes; heading over a right-wing corner after Quarless had misjudged the bounce at the near post. Midfielder Hildreth tried his luck with a long range effort four minutes later, but his effort was equally far away from goal.

James Berrett became the first player to hit the target after a quarter of an hour and it took the Coventry 'keeper a couple of attempts to hold his speculative 30 yard drive, but the opening stages of the game were scrappy in general.

GOAL - Coventry took the lead after 26 minutes with what was easily the best passing move of the game. Right-winger Cairo picked up the ball and played a one-two with striker Andrews before sliding a low ball across the box, where an unmarked Donovan Simmonds placed the ball past the approaching Alex Smithies to give the Sky Blues a lead.

Town tried to fight back and a clever one-two between Booth and Quarless on the edge of the box presented the trialist with an opportunity to shoot inside the box three minutes later, but the Walsall man tamely side-footed his effort straight at the 'keeper when he would have hoped to do better.

James Berrett then played Danny Racchi in on the right flank after 33 minutes and the Halifax-born winger drilled a low ball across the box that narrowly evaded Quarless at the far post.

The lively midfielder had another long range effort saved with four minutes of the half remaining, but trialist Quarless had Town's best effort of the half with a minute left when he slammed a volley from a deep Berrett cross straight at visiting 'keeper Daniel Ireland from around eight yards out; Berrett having robbed defender Burgess of the ball on the flank.

Town still trailed at the interval, but they had enjoyed quite a bit of play following the opening goal. Aaron Hardy had been strong defensively all half and Mitchell Bailey had enjoyed more time on the ball as the half came to an end. His role was to collect the ball from the back four, allowing Young and Berrett to push forward, and the Terriers were definitely on top as half-time arrived.

Half-Time: Town Reserves 0 Coventry City 1

SUBS - John Dungworth made a couple of changes to his line-up during the interval, replacing Andy Booth and James Berrett - both of whom had made appearances from the bench against AFC Bournemouth the previous evening - with Daniel Broadbent and Daniel Codman. The introduction of defender Codman saw him take a centre-back position, with Tom Clarke moving forward into Berrett's central midfield position.

The younger Clarke brother immediately got on the ball and started spraying it around, creating some consistent Town pressure on the Coventry goal. On a couple of occasions he released Racchi down the right side, but Broadbent couldn't get on the end of his crosses.

Matthew Young started to cause Coventry a few problems and one clever one-two exchange of passes with Broadbent ended with the striker hitting a left-foot drive straight into the goalkeeper's hands after 55 minutes.

SUB - Andy Ritchie was then brought on as a sub - for Coventry! Not the Town boss, but the Coventry youngster of the same name. He replaced Dean Marshall.

The substitute didn't stem the Town pressure though and Broadbent narrowly missed out on a Matthew Young right-wing cross before Tom Clarke forced Ireland into a good save to his right with a shot from the edge of the box.

However, Alex Smithies had to stay alert and he did well to turn a Cairo header around his left-hand post with half an hour left after the winger had reacted quickest to get on the end of a Thornton free-kick.

SUB - Coventry then made their second change of the afternoon, replacing the injured Bradley Jones with Keiran Fitzharris after 66 minutes.

GOAL - Coventry then broke on the Terriers and scored a second goal after 70 minutes. Experienced striker Wayne Andrews made a run between Killock and Hardy and was picked out well with a pass by Cairo; he stood the ball up from the dead-ball line, where strike partner Donovan Simmonds rose above the Town defence to nod the ball home from close range.

BOOKING - Coventry left-back Aaron Griffiths entered the book after 72 minutes for a cynical trip on Danny Racchi after the Town winger had skipped passed him on the flank.

Town's fluency was missing after Coventry's second and the game became a midfield battle.

GOAL - In fact, Coventry scored a third with less than two minutes remaining.Left-back Aaron Griffiths ran with the ball unopposed until he reached 30 yards from goal, at which point he comprehensively smashed the ball past a helpless Alex Smithies to put the game beyond doubt.

Huddersfield Town

Alex Smithies, Aaron Hardy (c), Tom Jackson, Mitchell Bailey, Tom Clarke, Shane Killock, Danny Racchi, Matthew Young, Andy Booth (Daniel Broadbent 46), James Berrett (Daniel Codman 46), Leon Quarless

Unused Substitutes: Simon Eastwood, Curtis Roberts, Dave Pickering

Coventry City

Daniel Ireland, Bradley Jones (Keiran Fitzharris 66), Aaron Griffiths, Lee Hildreth, Callum Burgess, Liam Francis, Ellery Cairo, Kevin Thornton, Donovan Simmonds, Wayne Andrews, Dean Marshall (Andrew Ritchie 57)

Unused Substitutes: Adam Walker, Neil Collett, Ashley Cain

Booking: Aaron Griffiths 72

Attendance: 81